8 of the Best Personal Finance Books to Get You Back on Track

September is National Self Improvement Month. While that could mean you start eating better, going to a gym, catching up on sleep, or simply finding more "you" time, why not consider learning more and reading about personal finance?

After all, personal finance books can help you learn to manage your money, which, in turn, can help you achieve a lot more self-help-wise. Figure out your budget and work into it that new gym membership. Learn to save for retirement, and sleep more soundly. Discover some tips for paying off debt and feel less guilty about taking a day off.

Even if you feel as though you have a good handle on your personal finances, there is always room for improvement. Learn how to invest in real estate or the stock market, how to maximize rewards programs, or how to change your mindset to become more motivated about earning and saving money.

And the best part is, you don't have to spend a dime as all of these books should be available to borrow at your local library. 

1. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

By now you've probably heard of Dave Ramsey. The author of several finance books, Ramsey has been delivering sound personal finance advice for years via his books and his radio show, among other avenues.

In The Total Money Makeover, Ramsey offers a game plan for whipping your budget into shape in a simple, straightforward way. His book will show you how to design a plan to pay off all of your debt, tell you how to steer clear of tempting money myths, and walk you through how to save up a nice-sized nest egg for retirement and emergencies.    

2. The One-Page Financial Plan: A Simple Way to Be Smart About Your Money by Carl Richards

Are you just dipping your toes into personal finance and wishing there was a quick-and-easy explanation as to how to go about getting your finances in order? Well, look no further than the one-page plan laid out in this popular book.

Richards makes personal finance less boring and more fun by distilling what can be a complicated topic into layman's terms. Now everyone can learn how to invest properly, deal with financial hiccups, and make wise decisions with their money. 

3. Why Didn't They Teach Me This in School?: 99 Personal Money Management Principles to Live By by Cary Siegel

Are you or do you know a young adult who could benefit from some personal money management education — the kind they never teach in school? Then this book by Siegel, a retired business executive, can help. The personal money management 99 principles are split into eight easy-to-understand lessons for the layperson. This book is not a textbook, but rather takes a personal approach as to how the author led his own financial life and the lessons he wanted to impart to, first, his own children, and then, all readers. 

4. Stacked: Your Super Serious Guide to Money Management by Joe Saul-Sehy and Emily Guy Birken

Personal finance, but make it funny. That's right, this book is for anyone who wants to learn about money management but hates all the highbrow, boring, formulaic books out there. This read teaches you how to create wealth in a variety of ways — from hiring a financial advisor to side hustles and from building up emergency funds to the latest in money apps and software.

The authors of Stacked: Your Super Serious Guide to Money Management were able to seamlessly blend smart financial tips and knowledge with a funny sense of humor that makes you actually want to learn more.

5. Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement: The Secret to Freedom, Flexibility, and Financial Independence (& how to get started!) by Rachel Richards

Maybe you've heard of passive income, but you're not sure exactly what it is or who it's for. Rachel Richards breaks down the ins and outs in Passive Income, Aggressive Retirement, offering 28 different ideas to help you get the wheels turning. You'll learn how to retire early, create long-term residual income, cut down on money fears and worries, and add flexibility to how and where you work.

6. Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together by Erin Lowry

For all those millennials having trouble paying their bills, much less saving for the future, Broke Millennial is for you. Lowry explains in simple, conversational terms how this particular generation can take control of their personal finances, once and for all. This step-by-step guide that breaks down how to understand your own relationship with money, manage student loans and other debts, have a financial conversation with a partner, and even how to say "no" to the dreaded "let's just split the check." Full of funny anecdotes and simple advice, Broke Millennial can help you #GYFLT!  

7. The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley

In need of a little financial inspiration? Then this 4.5 star book for you. In The Millionaire Next Door, Stanley profiles some of America's wealthiest citizens, uncovering their habits, their work, what they drive, where they shop, how they invest, how they got rich, and even who their ancestors were. And, as it turns out, the millionaire next door might not be as different as we think, and that wealth might even be achievable for the rest of us after all.

8. Get Good with Money: Ten Simple Steps to Becoming Financially Whole by Tiffany the Budgetnista Aliche

With more than 4,000 five-star reviews, Get Good with Money is the perfect book for those wanting to chart their own path toward financial success. Aliche's ten-step formula introduces readers to the concept of building wealth via financial wholeness in an achievable way that doesn't involve get-rich-quick schemes or any complicated methods.

Through checklists, worksheets, expert advice and a tool kit of resources, Get Good with Money lays out the short-term actions needed to achieve your life-long financial goals.

If you could use some financial help while learning to get your own personal finance footing under you, remember we are here to help. Check `n Go has the money you need, including for those with bad credit or good credit. Apply online or in-store today!